The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that a chemical distributor in Roanoke, Va., has agreed to pay a $43,967 penalty and complete more than $200,000 in safety improvements to settle alleged violations of federal environmental laws designed to protect and inform the public about hazardous chemicals.

With the expectation that Hurricane Irene, which is currently gathering steam offshore, will hit at least some part of the East Coast, here are a few tips that can help consumers prepare for—and ride out—a storm.

NEDAK Ethanol LLC, an alternative fuels manufacturer, has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $3,600 to the United States for failing to develop a risk management program and file a risk management plan for its ethanol production facility at Atkinson, Neb.

The former president and CEO of French Gulch Nevada Mining Corporation and Bullion River Gold Corporation failed to surrender to federal authorities after he was indicted for his role in a conspiracy to illegally dispose of mining wastes containing hazardous concentrations of arsenic and lead.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Dow Chemical Company has agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty to settle alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) at its chemical manufacturing and research complex in Midland, Mich.

Tenaris Global Services Corp., a manufacturer and supplier of steel pipe products for the oil and energy industry, has agreed to pay $717,324 of civil penalties to the United States to settle violations of environmental regulations at seven facilities related to the public reporting of toxic chemicals at its facilities in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas.

Scientists, environmental advocates, and Appalachian residents affected by mountaintop removal called on Congress to heed the warning in new research that suggest a link between mountaintop removal mining and elevated rates of certain birth defects.

Chemically bonded phosphate ceramics create a passivation layer that stops corrosion and is protected by a tough ceramic outer layer. These compounds protect metal from corrosion better than other options, such as polymer paints, and are less expensive than using stainless steel.

The NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has awarded Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine $6.5 million for a five-year study exploring the potential health impacts of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on pregnant women and women of reproductive age living in Louisiana’s coastal parishes.

Renewable fuels can now be blended with conventional commercial and military jet (or gas turbine) fuel through requirements in the newly issued edition of Specifications for Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized Hydrocarbons.

A professor at The University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering said the risks incurred during hydraulic fracturing are low when compared to the risks of energy production from any other energy source and that some commonly believed notions about the gas extraction process are incorrect.

Green chemistry is the expansive discipline that is evolving in response to a wide array of challenges and, according to a new report from Pike Research, represents a market opportunity that will grow from $2.8 billion in 2011 to $98.5 billion by 2020.

Clean-technology companies, industrial users and research institutions in Germany and Switzerland have together founded Hydrothermale Carbonisierung e.V. The aim of the association is to promote the use of hydrothermal carbonization.